For the first time in El Paso and for the first full summer season, all of the city’s promised spray parks are fully operational to cool families off.

Each of the city’s eight districts has a spray park with several water features that El Pasoans of all ages can either run through, stand underneath or splash around in to take a break from the 100-degree-plus weather.

The spray parks were part of the city’s 2015 Aquatics Plan aimed at giving residents better access to aquatics facilities.

Tracy Novak, the city’s parks and recreation director, said there are actually nine spray parks, counting the small version located at San Jacinto Plaza in Downtown El Paso.

Unlike traditional city pools where attendance is counted, the spray parks are open access, so Novak said there is no official way to track how many people are using them.

There are, however, nontraditional indicators, such as full trash bins.

Novak said people do not hesitate to call the city if there is an issue at one of the parks. Also, all the parks are connected to a monitoring system that keeps track of water chemical levels and how they are functioning, and the city can address minor issues remotely, Novak said.

He said the parks automatically shut down if wind speeds are faster than 20 miles per hour or if there is an issue with the water quality. Otherwise, the spray parks are open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. — two hours later than initially scheduled due to high demand.

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Children wait to get dowsed by a large bucket of water that tips over when full at the Marty Robbins Spray Park at 11600 Vista Del Sol Drive as the temperature reached the triple-digit mark Tuesday in East El Paso. The spray park is among eight operated by the city of El Paso.(Photo: RUDY GUTIERREZ/EL PASO TIMES)

Novak said most maintenance issues can be easily addressed.

Having the spray parks up and running has created a few unexpected results for the parks department, Novak said.

Two of the city’s outdoor pools that were seeing continuously low attendance have now seen a spike since the spray parks opened at the locations.

“We thought we’d get less usage at the pools, but, as it turns out, it’s had the opposite effect,” Novak said.

The Grandview Spray Park in Central El Paso at 3225 Jefferson Ave. and the Marty Robbins Spray Park at 11600 Vista Del Sol Drive in East El Paso are both next to city-owned outdoor pools.

“It has brought more people out to explore the water,” Novak said.

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He also said families are spending more time overall at the parks since the water features were installed.

For the time being, Novak said, park workers have been able to maintain the spray parks without having to tap into additional overtime hours, but the department will request an additional employee in the next budget cycle.

Novak did not say how much funding would be needed for the new staffer.

He also said now that the initial spray park program has been implemented, the department is gathering feedback for ways to enhance the facilities later.

“Sometimes we weren’t able to get everything in place that we would have liked to have had, (so) we are looking at further enhancements,” Novak said.

The spray parks were funded through a combination of sources, including quality of life bonds approved by voters in 2012, Community Development Block Grants, end-of-year budget savings and, in some instances, parkland dedication funds — developers are required to dedicate a certain amount of land for parks and in some cases pay into the dedication fund.

The city has 14 pools, including 10 year-round indoor pools that attract about 250,000 people annually. Novak did not have specific attendance numbers for this current summer season.

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Two of the pools are closed indefinitely.

In May, the city closed the 56-year-old Lionel Forti outdoor pool in the Lower Valley due to structural issues. Also, the 60-year-old Chelsea outdoor pool in Central El Paso was closed in 2012 due to structural issues.

In July, the city approved the design/build method for the two pools, which are now slated to become aquatic centers. It was the first step toward addressing the facilities.

However, city officials have not said when the projects will be completed.